Word of the day: banns

The word of the day is banns:

The same word as ban n.¹ ‘proclamation,’ in a specific use, in which it was from some cause regularly pronounced with long ā from 15th to 17th cents. The Prayer-book of 1549 has exceptionally bannes, that of 1552 bannes and banes, all edd. from 1559 to 1661 banes, from 1662 onward banns, after medieval Latin bannum, used, as well as French ban, in same sense. The singular occurs in 15th cent.; the plural only is found after.









Proclamation or public notice given in church of an intended marriage, in order that those who know of any impediment thereto may have opportunity of lodging objections. (OED)


"The Duke (Lorenzo Pisoni), disguised as a friar, goes underground to observe his community; in his absence, his austere deputy, Angelo (Michael Hayden), rules that fornication is punishable by death.  To set an example, he orders the execution of a young nobleman, Claudio (Andre Holland), who has failed to post his marriage banns but whose partner is with child.  The Draconian judgment sets in motion a battle between liberty and authority, immorality and mercy, through which the boisterous, soiled Elizabethan world is laid bare."

 - John Lahr, "Down and dirty: Shakespeare's dark larks", 11 & 18 July 2011 The New Yorker